The Perfect Marriage: The BCPS Salad Box Project & Edible Gardening

During the fall of 2016, the Office of Science, with some assistance from Career and Technology Education (CTE), oversaw a collaborative project with two BCPS carpentry programs and two special schools to create salad boxes to support its grade three science unit, Let-Us Grow. Sollers Point Technical High School construction management teacher, Bill Lynch, Kenwood High School construction and carpentry teacher, Randy Tolj, and Tom Melito, Office of Science outdoor science resource teacher, collaborated to write and win two separate grants through The Education Foundation of BCPS to fund “The Salad Box Project.” Battle Monument School and Ridge Ruxton high school students have a variety of severe special needs studentswhom also played a valuable role in the project as well. These students would be involved in the project to assist them with learning vocational skills. Each grant funded materials including wood, hardware cloth, and hardware as well as transportation costs for the Kenwood carpentry students to visit their disabled peers at the Ridge Ruxton School.

The initial phase of the project required each of the two high school programs to research and design prototypes that would be effective at growing plants and be easily transportable all while allowing the special needs students to successfully assemble the precut and predrilled materials into the salad boxes. After the prototypes were designed, then the SPTHS and KHS carpentry students had to design and create jigs to allow the BMS and RRS students to overcome their challenges related to their gross and fine motor skills. A jig’sprimary purpose is to provide repeatability, accuracy, and interchangeability in the manufacturing of products. After the materials and jigs were transported to the Special Schools, the BMS and RRS students then assembled the salad boxes. The Kenwood HS carpentry students were lucky enough to be transported to Ridge Ruxton to interact with their special need peers and to provide them with support and training while the salad boxes were assembled. This opportunity provided both the disabled and non-disabled peers valuable social interaction that would otherwise rarely occur. This collaborative project was an amazing experience for all the students involved and made especially meaningful to each participant knowing that the final product, a salad box, would be utilized by BCPS grade three students for years to come.Please feel free to see with your students this transformative experience by viewing this BCPS-TV segment on “The Salad Box Project”.

BCPS Edible Gardening with Salad Boxes

Description

A salad box is a form of container gardening. The use of a salad box to grow edibles, falls under Tier I or Tier II of the BCPS Edible Garden Protocol.

Set Up

It is recommended that the bottom of the salad box be lined with newspaper. This will help prevent the potting mix from falling through the openings. This is not necessary for the box to be used to grow. The media to be used in any container gardening project is potting mix. This will allow air to be present and help prevent roots from rotting. Top soil and outdoor garden soil is too dense for salad box use. The potting mix should have a synthetic base for fertilizer and should not contain nutrients originated from manure or compost that is not plant-based. This will help limit the opportunities for bacteria growth and contamination. The recommended approved potting mix is found on the BCPS Edible Garden Protocol website.

Start out by adding the potting mix level with the top of the box. Once watering takes place, it will be approximately one inch from the top.

Location of the Salad Box

It is recommended that the salad box be kept in an area where it will receive sunlight for the better part of the day. Some of the crops that can be grown in a salad box will need less light than others. This information will be provided on the seed packet. No light is needed until the seeds have germinated (sprouted).

The location selected should be on a surface that will not be damaged by water. It should not be near any outlets, electrical equipment, or heating/air conditioning vents. You may find that the salad boxes would be best set on a tray or cart. The advantage of the boxes is that they can easily be set outside on warm, sunny days and brought back into the school before the end of the day. The boxes should not be left out overnight.

What to Grow

The recommended edible plants that grow best in a salad box are those whose roots do not require a depth greater than four inches. The approved list on the BCPS Edible Garden Protocol website includes a variety of crops, including both vegetables and herbs, most of which can be grown successfully in the salad box.

The following vegetables grow well in a salad box:

Arugula

Cabbage

Kale

Lettuces

Radishes

Spinach

The following herbs grow well in a salad box:

Basil

Chives

Cilantro

Dill

Lavender

Marjoram

Parsley

Peppermint

Rosemary

Scallions

Spearmint

Thyme

How to Grow

The seed packets provide the necessary information regarding depth and spacing for your plants. Moisten the soil prior to planting the seeds. It is recommended that a watering can with multiple holes or a spray bottle be used to allow for a gentler watering, keeping the seeds in place and the plants stable.

Preparation for Consumption

The BCPS cafeteria staff are available during school hours to prepare the harvested crop for consumption. A time for bringing the harvested plants to the cafeteria should be agreed upon ahead of time as not to interrupt the lunch schedule.

Students must have the permission slip completed in order to eat the plants that they have grown. This form is located on the BCPS Edible Garden Protocol website.

If a teacher would like to wash the harvested plants for consumption themselves, the protocol for training must be met. The training, as required as part of the ServSafe requirement by the Baltimore County Health Department, can be met through the Office of Science and does not require teachers to take the workshop for this certification. Please contact Dawn Dawson for more information. The attached document Preparing Edible Plants for Consumption provides details regarding this option.

BCPS Edible Garden Protocol: Preparing Edible Plants for Consumption

Preparing the Crops for Consumption

As part of the BCPS Edible Garden protocol, students are able to eat what they grow. The list of approved crops are typically grown in containers, both stationary and portable. The soil is commercially bagged. No herbicides or pesticides are ever used.

Preparation for consumption is supported through the Office of Food and Nutrition. The ServSafe Certified school cafeteria staff prepare the harvested vegetables and herbs that the students grew. The crops are taken down to the cafeteria at an agreed time so that students can eat their harvest during the school day. There are times when the cafeteria staff are not available to prep the crops. The teacher or other trained adult will prepare the crops using the following protocol.

Training for Edible Garden Protocol

Classroom teachers and administrators are required to notify the BCPS Office of Science of any edible gardening projects occurring at their school. A maintenance agreement form is submitted to the Office of Science that includes the type of edible garden e.g. container, salad table, tilled, the crops being grown, and the names of the adults on the garden team. School-based garden teams are invited to an annual edible garden protocol professional development. This workshop includes specific information on best gardening practices, as well as, required permissions and preparation for consumption of harvested crops.

The Office of Science will provide ServSafe training with teachers that will prepare the crops for consumption. Dawn Dawson, BCPS Resource Teacher Office of Science, will have the ServSafe Manager training to fulfill this teacher training.

Additionally, The University of MD Extension will be offering Food Safety workshops, including ServSafe procedures for crop preparation. Our BCPS teachers are invited to attend at no cost. In addition to hands-on training for food prep, teacher participants will be given materials for safe best practices including hand washing posters, nitrile gloves, and an inclusive binder on food safety. Shauna Henley, PhD from University of MD will lead these workshops. Dawn Dawson, BCPS Resource Teacher Office of Science, will participate in these workshops as professional support, especially specific to BCPS protocol.

Supplies for Washing Harvested Vegetables and Herbs for Consumption

All supplies listed are dedicated for use with the edible garden for crop preparation.

  • Over the sink colander
  • Potable water in gallon sized containers
  • Vegetable cleaning brush
  • Paper towels
  • Paper plates
  • Nitrile gloves

Additional Supplies

  • Soap for hand washing. Sanitizer is not to be used in place of hand washing using soap and running warm water.
  • Paper towels for hand drying.
  • Dish soap for washing the colander, cutting board, and vegetable cleaning brush.

Steps for Washing Harvested Vegetables and Herbs for Consumption

  • Students and adults will follow proper hand washing procedures; washing hands with warm water for at least 20 seconds and drying with school provided paper towels.
  • Students and adults will harvest leaves and root vegetables through hand pruning of the crop. Classroom scissors or other tools should not be used.
  • An adult will wash all leafy vegetables, firm skinned vegetables, and root vegetables in colander, under running water from the potable water in half gallon or gallon containers. Crops will be washed separately. A clean vegetable brush will be used as needed to loosen any soil on firm skinned vegetables and root vegetables.
  • Soap will not be used for washing crops.
  • An adult will dry the washed vegetables and herbs using paper towels and place them on paper plates.
  • Disposable nitrile food prep gloves will be used to serve the washed crop as it is considered a ready to eat food product.

Steps for Washing Supplies

  • BCPS cafeteria staff will manually clean and sanitize the colander, cutting board, and vegetable cleaning brush, as approved by the Baltimore County Health Department.
  • Procedures for vegetable and herb preparation and proper hand washing will be posted in the classrooms where students are growing edibles.